Saturday, May 22, 2010

Arduino + Beaglebord + Other bits = Autopilot

So I have had a minor set-back with the el-cheapo motors on the quadcopter. No surprises there. Time to chin-up and get better motors and start building the second iteration. This one will feature stereo vision, barometer and the razor imu for positioning instead of the 3DM GX2. I am about to test the beagleboard to arduino connection over i2c, I will have to ensure that I attach some level converters this time to isolate the 2 voltage levels and have reliable operation.

I think the razor IMU will start life hooked to an Xbee and strung down from my hand flown co-ax. It is much lighter than the microstrain box and the little heli should be able to lift it. Both the xbee and the razor operate at 3.3 volts so no level shifting needed, the heli seems to provide some 4.2 volts which is rather odd for a lipo pack.

Helping with the lift calculations is this little tool. With a 1400kV motor i can turn bigger propellors and possibly prevent burn-outs. Better order some more el-cheapos with ESC just in case the controller is toasted as well.